RFA Olna (A123)

For other ships with the same name, see RFA Olna.

RFA Olna underway in 1991
History
United Kingdom
Name	RFA Olna
Ordered	4 February 1963 as AO 16
Builder	Hawthorn Leslie and Company
Yard number	756
Laid down	2 July 1964
Launched	28 July 1965 by Barbara Redman
In service	1 April 1966
Out of service	24 September 2000
Identification	IMO number: 6519467 Callsign: GOGS Pennant number: A123 Flight deck: ON
Honours and awards	Falkland Islands 1982 Kuwait 1991
Fate	Renamed Kos in May 2001. Arrived Alang for demolition 20 June 2001.
Notes
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Ol-class tanker
Tonnage	18,582 GRT 9,367 NRT 22,350 DWT
Displacement	36,605 long tons (37,192 t) full load
Length	648 ft (198 m)
Beam	84 ft 2 in (25.65 m)
Draught	34 ft (10 m)
Depth	44 ft (13 m)
Installed power	2× Babcock & Wilcox selectable superheat boilers 26,500 shp (19,761 kW)
Propulsion	2× Pametrada steam turbines, double reduction gearbox to single screw Bow thrust propeller 3825 tons FFO, consumption 160 TPD at max power
Speed	21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h)
Range	10,000 nmi (19,000 km) at 16 kn (18 mph; 30 km/h)
Complement	88 RFA 40 RN
Armament	2× 20 mm guns 2× Chaff launchers
Aircraft carried	3× Westland Wessex or Westland Sea King helicopters
Aviation facilities	Helicopter deck, hangar
Notes
Service record
Operations:	Operation Magister Operation Corporate Operation Granby

RFA Olna (A123) was the third and final of the three Ol-class "fast fleet tanker" of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the naval auxiliary fleet of the United Kingdom. She was designed by the builders to meet specific requirements and be capable of maintaining “fleet speed” (defined as sustained steaming at 20 knots). When she entered service she was one of the largest and fastest ships in the RFA Fleet. Olna saw service in the Falklands War and the Gulf War.

Her design was a development of the later Tide-class ships of the early 1960s. She was entered service in 1966 and served in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary for 34 years. Olna was the third ship to bear the name.

Design and description

Olna had a normal complement consisting 88 Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel with provision for 40 Royal Navy personnel and she was armed with two 20 mm guns and two Corvus chaff launchers. She was designed to achieve a speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) with a fully loaded displacement of 36,000 tonnes (35,000 long tons; 40,000 short tons).

The ship had the capability to supply fuel and other liquid cargo to vessels using four pairs of replenishment rigs which were located between the forward and aft superstructures. She was able to carry four types of fuels: Furnace Fuel Oil, Diesel, Avcat and Mogas. Limited supplies of lubricating oils, fresh water and dry stores could also be carried. She could operate Westland Wessex or Westland Sea King helicopters, or other helicopters of similar size, from a hangar and flight deck at the stern.

Operational history

Olna entered service as the UK was pulling back from its final large imperial garrisons. Much of the ship's early life was spent supporting routine deployments around the world.

On 19 June 1966, Olna rescued 26 survivors from the Greek liberty ship the SS Zaneta, which had sunk in the Arabian Sea off the Kuria Muria Islands, and landed them in Aden. On 27 August she deployed to HMNB Devonport and was present at Plymouth Navy Days 1966.

Between 11 October 1967 to 25 January 1968 Olna was part of TF 318. In Operation Magister, this was part of the fleet covering the final British military withdrawal from Aden, along with nine other RFAs.

From 20 September until 13 October 1968, Olna was deployed participating in Exercise Coral Sands which took place in the Solomon Sea, the Coral Sea and Shoalwater Bay, together with RFAs Tarbatness, Tidespring and Regent, alongside the Royal Navy’s Albion, Hermes, Glamorgan, Fife, Intrepid and Triumph, the Royal Australian Navy’s Sydney, Supply and Stalwart, and the Royal New Zealand Navy’s Waikato.

On 19 May 1971 she was involved in a collision with RFA Regent, which occurred during a replenishment at sea (RAS), off Portland. A ten foot hole was discovered once the RAS was completed which was serious enough for Olna to be ordered to discharge and tank clean in Portsmouth. She then sailed to Southampton for emergency drydock, returning later to anchor off Portland. The following day the Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT) flotilla left Portland Naval Base. Hovering above the ships a Fleet Air Arm Westland Wessex HAS.1 helicopter, XM875, which was carrying five press photographers, lost power and ditched. Olna’s crash boat picked up one of  the crew from the helicopter. Three photographers were killed.

Falklands War

In 1982 Olna left for the South Atlantic as part of the second wave of ships to leave the UK during the Falklands War. That group was centred on the destroyer HMS Bristol. Once Olna reached theatre, her time was primarily spent fuelling the carrier battle group.

Olna replenishing frigates as part of the Bristol Group en route to the Falklands War in 1982

1983-2000

In 1990, another wartime deployment beckoned. As forces built up in the Persian Gulf, Olna joined the British task force on station. Olna arrived in August 1990, shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait, and apart from a short maintenance period in Singapore was on station for the whole duration of the conflict. Olna operated further north than any other tanker as the US Navy was wary of mines after two ships had been severely damaged.

At the end of the 1990s, retirement was in sight. 1999 and 2000 were spent in mothballs at Gibraltar until the outbreak of a crisis in Sierra Leone called for Olna to make one last deployment. The ship did not proceed to Sierra Leone, but instead relieved other RFA vessels of participation in a major exercise off Scotland. Following this exercise, the ship returned to reserve and decommissioned soon thereafter.

Decommissioning

In February 2001 Olna was sold to Eckhardt Organisation, for scrap and on 9 March she was towed out from Portsmouth. However, in May it was revealed she had been banned from Turkish yards owing to the high quantity of asbestos aboard and was diverted to Greece. She was renamed Kos and sailed via the Suez Canal, arriving at Alang Ship Breaking Yard, India, on 20 June 2001.

Battle honours

On 11 January 1985, RFA Olna was awarded her Falkland Islands 1982 Battle Honour, by Rear Admiral John C. Worsop, CB, RN, – Flag Officer, Portsmouth.

References

Bibliography

• Puddefoot, Geoff (2009). The Fourth Force The Untold Story of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary since 1945. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-046-8.